As one of the most able and significant talents to materialize from the
1980’s, comedian and actor Eddie Murphy laid the groundwork for an entire
generation of young African American comics to follow. Just as he was motivated
by
the comedy skills of the legendary Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx in the
1970’s, he influenced an entire new group of comedians
who came into focus during the 1980’s, among them: Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock,
Jamie Foxx, and Dave Chappelle. Yet, it was as a true celebrity and movie star that
the actor made his greatest impact.

He can be proud of a collective career box office cash draw of
over $8 billion dollars, making him one of the most successful comedy stars
of all time. With a flair for re-inventing himself, his career also managed to revive itself several times.
In 2006, the 46 year old
comedian achieved his most drastic shift from comedy in the smash hit movie variation of the musical, “Dreamgirls”.

Born Edward Regan Murphy on April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, the comedian was the second born child of New York City police officer, Charles, and his wife, Lillian. Even though
his parents divorced in 1964, he and his older brother, Charles, Jr., stayed in contact with their
father until his passing four years later. In 1970, Lillian
remarried and relocated the family to Roosevelt, Long Island, where her new
husband, Vernon Lynch, worked as a manager at the Breyer’s ice cream
factory.

A talented child growing up, young Eddie spent numerous hours in front of
the television set, watching old movies and cartoons. Not
surprisingly, the young man became a exceptional mimic. Showing an early skill
for entertaining, he liked putting on shows for his family and
friends. A large preponderance of his collection in those days
consisted of celebrity impersonations, silly songs raps, and simulated
religious sermons.

He would get his first taste of celebrity while attending Roosevelt
Junior High School. An very smart, but academically uninterested learner, he
spent more time telling jokes than studying.
Adored by his friend and teachers equally, his charisma and
quick cleverness made a long-lasting impact and won him the name “Most Popular Student.” At the age of 16,
he started writing and
performing his own comedy skits for school variety shows, youth centers,
and nearby comedy clubs.

Turning professional at 18, he began to make a name for himself by performing at comedy clubs and beer bars in and around New York City. Though
he readily admits to stealing a large majority of his early jokes from Richard Pryor, by the late
1970's, he had started to develop his own routines. A fluke job at New
York’s famous Comic Strip Live comedy club jump started his career into
high gear. From there, it was a short trip to the big leagues, just
four years
and he would be at the pinnacle of his profession.

The comedian's stand-up
routine continued filling clubs and gained him the esteem of his peers. But it was television where Murphy became a
household name. In the summer of 1980, his life was forever altered when he was
hired to join the cast of “Saturday Night Live” (1975-
). While many young comedians would have viewed this as a golden opportunity, the timing could not have been worse. By the time
he joined the ensemble cast, the six year old “SNL” was already in the first of its
numerous declines. Once thought of as progressive and cutting-edge “SNL” had grown
rather stale. There was a mass exodus of talent from the show at the end
of the fifth season.

Despite the
mass mutiny, NBC renewed “SNL” for one more season. Quickly re-worked and
glued back
together, the show returned in the fall of 1980 with a new executive
producer, a new ensemble comedy cast, a new writing staff, and even a new
band and band leader.

Under Ebersol’s management, “SNL” got back some of its sparkle. While not as sassy as it had been in its high point, the show
was at least funny and allowed Murphy to flower into the star
he was intended to become. Between 1981 and 1985, the cast also welcomed Jim Belushi, Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Mary Gross. But
for all purposes, the show had largely become the "Eddie
Murphy Show". Natural, bold, and regularly dazzling, he was a hit with sketches that showed off his impersonation
talents.
Among his most well known skits were “Mister Robinson's
Neighborhood”, “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub,” and the funny “Ebony & Ivory” sketch.
His other brilliant characters included the
pimp, Velvet Jones, and the angry children's television show icon, Gumby.

But His most
well-known character had to be the adored ” Buckwheat”, a parody
of the fictional black character from the “Our
Gang” series. After several appearances, however, he decided to retire the character.
The star would leave
the show halfway through the 1983-1984 season, but through his short run, managed to secure his spot as one of the most talented comics to play the
sound stage of Studio 8-H.

Clearly, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood came looking for
the comedian. In 1982, he transitioned to feature celebrity status as a smart
mouth prisoner teamed with a police officer (Nick Nolte) in Walter
Hill's "48 Hrs." The following
year, he partnered with friend Dan Aykroyd and Jamie
Lee Curtis in director John
Landis’s comedy drama, “Trading Places” (1983). The film was a smash hit when
released that
summer . Developed on a budget of only $27 million, it went on to make over $91
million in the United States alone. “Trading Places” legitimately
secured his status as a major movie star and sexy celebrity. The next
year, he hit the jackpot with the release of his first starring role in
“Beverly Hills Cop” (1984). Conceived as a vehicle for
Sylvester Stallone, the script went through a major re-write once he joined the project. Another colossal smash hit, the $16 million comedy grossed a whopping
$244 million in the United States.

The actor was next hired in his first live comedy
special “Eddie Murphy, Delirious."
Taped before a live studio audience in Washington, D.C., “Delirious” became a
run away success and ushered his arrival as the new king of comedy. His
routine was not without its critics. Some thought the
young comic’s relentless usage of sexual suggestive situations and profanity
was highly distasteful. He was also chided for being sexist and
homophobic, speaking of gays as “faggots” and telling jokes about AIDS.
This early flood of political incorrectness, added to his unapologetic
viewpoint
afterwards, finally ended in a boycott from
the gay and lesbian community.

Because of his unparalleled box office success, he received a money-spinning
multiple movie deal with Paramount Pictures. His first project, "The Golden Child" (1986)
did well at the box office, but was missing some shine. He also hit it big with his next project, the
live concert special "Eddie Murphy Raw" (1987), and showed his
charm
as a wife seeking African prince in "Coming to America" (1988). At
this stage some were beginning to think that his ego
was starting to surpass his comedic senses. He only proved these critics right with his next project – “Harlem
Nights” (1989). Making a dreadful introduction as a screenwriter and director,
“Harlem Nights” was the beginning of the end for chapter one of his
career.

He next
tested the waters with a singing career.
This bad idea attempt as a recording star led to one hit single, the
addicting but tacky "Party All the Time", but his
shortcomings as a musician and songwriter shut down any dreams for a lasting
career. Wanting to expand, he turned to television and developed a
number of sitcom pilots with his production company, EM
Productions. His only success was a comedy series he created and produced as an
outlet for Redd Foxx and Della Reese called "The Royal Family" (1991-92). A
poor ratings success, the sitcom was finally cancelled halfway through the first season when Foxx died of a sudden heart
attack.

The celebrities movie career started another down hill trend during the 1990’s,
as he starred in a series of likely but needless sequels, like
“Another 48 Hrs” (1990) and “Beverly Hills Cop III” (1994). Anxious to
stay on top, he decided to re-invent his onscreen personality for the first
time, moving from comedian to more polished leading man roles. The results
showed and assortment results with some moderate hits, most surprisingly the romantic
comedy "Boomerang" with Halle
Berry (1992) and the Capitol Hill mockery, "The
Distinguished Gentleman" (1992); but even more amazing - big failures, including "A Vampire in Brooklyn
" (1995) with Angela
Basset, a bad terror comedy directed by Wes Craven.

Happily, he returned to what made him famous - funny comedy -
beginning with the 1996 variation of
"The Nutty Professor" (1963). Making skillful use of his various talents, director Steve Oederkerk had
him playing multiple characters as he did in “Coming to America.” The
results were brilliantly refreshing. Taking a less hyperactive approach than Jerry
Lewis did, he juggled numerous roles, personalities,
prosthetics, and even genders, with wonderful self-confidence. Of his many roles,
the most striking was that of title character, Professor Sherman Klump.

Even braver was his role as Klump’s alter ego, Buddy Love, a desperate,
self-centered, and horrible egomaniac. “The Nutty Professor” earned
$137 million at the box office and jump
started his career once again.

He won critical
approval for his
two part
role as a fearful action adventure film star and his dumb brother in the
well written Steve Martin comedy
"Bowfinger” (1999). He followed up by teaming with
"Boomerang" co-star Martin Lawrence in the jailhouse comedy,
"Life” (1999), but that film faded with little success. He continued his box office
failures with roles in several bad projects including the lackluster science
fiction comedy, "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" (2002), a film that
was so bad, it became the butt of jokes about his career with late night
comedians and writers. Hollywood next cast the actor
in two comedies released in
2002. “I Spy” with Owen
Wilson, and “Showtime” opposite Robert DeNiro. Both projects were bad
and did poorly at the box office and did not set well with his fans.

He started to gain traction with children and younger viewers, rebounding as as a voice actor in Disney
movies. Murphy started off this new
phase
in his career with a variation of the talking with the animals
adventure, "Dr. Dolittle” (1998). He then followed up with a great
role as a wise guy dragon in Disney's "Mulan"
(1998).

Fond of voice work, he played another
animated character - this time an short-tempered donkey - in the enormously popular
animated story, "Shrek" (2001) along side Mike
Myers and Cameron Diaz. His funny role as simply "Donkey" proved so admired
by young viewers that he was invited back for its
two sequels, “Shrek 2” (2004) and “Shrek the Third” (2007). His next project, "Daddy Day Care" (2003), was not well
liked by critics and was seen as a knock-off of “Mr. Mom”, but ended up
a success with a $30 million opening weekend.

His rejuvenated career as America’s beloved family and children
friendly movie star was almost ruined in 1997. The celebrity became mixed up in a peculiar
and spicy sex scandal that became the talk of late night television, and
tabloids around the world. During the production of “Doctor Dolittle,”
Murphy was stopped by West Hollywood police around 5 a.m. for suspicion
of soliciting a transsexual male prostitute. He was never charged with a sex crime but gossip writers had a feeding frenzy when the story broke.
He originally
kept silent, but his silence only made things worse. Embarrassed and
angry by what he asserted were media fabrications of the truth,
a disgraced Murphy finally broke his silence to defend himself on national
television, saying the only thing he was guilty of was trying to be a good
Samaritan; that all he did was offer a young female, or so he thought, a
ride
home.

Putting his personal
problems aside, his career
continued along as planned. After finishing production on his latest project
"The Haunted Mansion", in 2003, he announced he was taking a vacation from acting to spend more time with his
family. By 2005, his 12 year marriage to former model Nicole Mitchell had come to an end. The two divorced in early
2006, but agreed to joint custody of their five young children.

He wasted no time finding new love interests. Not long after his
divorce
from Mitchell, he was associated in the tabloids to a throng of stunning
women. In late 2006, another of his lovers,
singer Melanie Brown announced that she was pregnant with Murphy’s child.
In early December 2006, just weeks after their relationship went public, he
broke up with Brown, who was five months
pregnant. The fight boiled over in January of 2007, when he publicly
questioned the baby’s paternity.

Eddie’s career continued in spite of his personal problems and was
hired for what would turn out to possibly be his crowning achievement, the big screen adaptation of the 1981 Tony award
winning musical, "Dreamgirls" (2006). In his biggest role to
date, he made an extraordinary dramatic presentation as R&B singer James
"Thunder" Early, joining Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, Beyonce
Knowles,
and newcomer Jennifer Hudson. Based on the story of the Motown super singing
group, the Supremes, the film adaptation of “Dreamgirls” was a smash hit.

He was honored for his performance in “Dreamgirls” with a Golden
Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. The role also won him an Oscar
for Best Supporting Actor.

Never one to sit around with idle time on his hands, the once again hot
celebrity maintained a busy schedule in 2007, beginning with the movie “Norbit,”
a comedy in which he played multiple roles, including that of an
overweight black woman. Next was "Shrek The Third" (2007) and the television
holiday special "Shrek The Halls" (2007) with Antonio
Banderas. He also appeared in 29 episodes of the top rated animated
television series "The PJs" (1999-2001) before returning to the
movies with "Meet Dave" (2008) about a crew of miniature aliens
who operate a spaceship that has a human form. While trying to save their
planet, the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship becomes smitten
with an Earth woman.

Next was the comedy "NowhereLand" (2009)
about a financial executive who can't stop his career
downturn is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to
his problems await. Next up is the comedy drama "A Thousand Words"
(2010) about a boring guy who learns that he has only 1,000 words left to
speak before he will die. He followed that with the expected "Shrek
Goes Fourth" (2010) sequel about
the further adventures of the giant green ogre, Shrek, living in the land of
Far, Far Away.

Finally, he will appear in the comedy action thriller "The Incredible Shrinking Man"
(2010), an update version of the best-selling novel and blockbuster movie,
it tells the story of Scott Carey who shrinks to an incredible small size
and must face the danger that he runs into.